GIRLS BASKETBALL: Greencastle-Antrim races past Waynesboro

The Greencastle-Antrim girls basketball team lost some starpower, but the two returning players with varsity experience — starter Chloe Hoover and Katie Gelsinger — helped their younger teammates fit right in to the varsity scene Friday night.

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Waynesboro Record Herald - Waynesboro, PA

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Posted Dec. 8, 2012 at 5:59 AM
Updated Dec 8, 2012 at 6:01 AM

Posted Dec. 8, 2012 at 5:59 AM
Updated Dec 8, 2012 at 6:01 AM

WAYNESBORO — The Greencastle-Antrim girls basketball team lost some starpower, but the two returning players with varsity experience — starter Chloe Hoover and Katie Gelsinger — helped their younger teammates fit right in to the varsity scene Friday night.

Hoover scored 17 points and Gelsinger added 16 to lead the Blue Devils past Waynesboro 51-17 in the first round of the Franklin County Tip-Off Tournament hosted by Waynesboro. Newcomer Hannah Crist, who as a freshman started at point guard, added 10 points.

G-A will play Chambersburg in the girls championship game today at approximately 7 p.m. Waynesboro will face James Buchanan in the consolation game at 4.

“We’ve got all those young kids on the team,” said G-A head coach Mike Rhine. “They held it together pretty well. We missed a lot of shots. Both teams were trying. Even Chloe and Katie were a little jittery. They got it together.”

Boy, did they get it together.

If you pushed a rapid rewind button and then fast forwarded it, you’d think you were watching two different games. The Maidens forged a 7-5 lead through the first five minutes of the game and led 9-7 with a minute to play in the first period.

Senior center Dori Kozain, who led the Maidens with eight points, drained a shot after Gelsinger made two free throws in the early going. Then, Sam Nichols dished to Lauren Wagaman, who finished off the play with a layup and a 4-2 Waynesboro advantage. Mallory Patterson followed with three straight points, including a follow up shot for a 7-5 lead. Kozain drained a jump shot from the foul line to make it 9-7.

But, in the waning seconds of the opening period, G-A turned the vice grip with a suffocating press defense that forced turnover after turnover. Gelsinger and Hoover converted on back-to-back turnovers to take an 11-9 lead after the first quarter, one the Blue Devils (1-0) would not relinquish the rest of the game.

“The first quarter I thought we played well. We were competitive, very aggressive defensively,” said Waynesboro head coach Doug Stuart. “The game got out of hand when our starting guard (Sam Nichols) got into foul trouble and then she got hurt. We had some freshmen come in and play hard for us.

“We struggled. The initial pass off the press gave us fits.”

Waynesboro’s scoring woes carried over to the final three periods. The Maidens were shut out in the second quarter, 17-0 and trailed 28-9 at halftime. Hoover made the first basket of the second half to make the score 30-9 before Waynesboro ended the drought with a bucket from Kozain.